Social Work publications (MU)
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Items in this collection represent publications made by School of Social Work faculty, staff, and students, either alone or as co-authors, and which may or may not have been published in an alternate format. Items may contain more than one file type.
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Item Exploring social work practitioners’ perspectives on the contributors to burnout since the COVID-19 pandemic(2024) Childs, Tasha M.; Iachini, Aidyn L.; Reitmeier, Melissa C.; Browne, Teri; DeHart, Dana; Bengel, Ala; Haynesworth, My’Ashia; 0000-0001-7121-0273 (Childs)[EMBARGOED UNTIL 02/14/2026] Burnout has a historic and disproportionate impact on social workers and is one important contributor to the ongoing health and behavioral health workforce crisis in the United States. Little is known, however, about social workers’ experiences of burnout and their perceptions of factors that contribute to burnout since the COVID-19 pandemic. This study sought to explore this by answering the following research questions: 1) To what extent are social workers in [state] experiencing burnout? and 2) What do [state] social workers view as the top reasons for burnout in their professional role? Seventy social work practitioners and leaders from [state] completed an online survey during Fall 2022 that included the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory and an open-ended question focused on identifying their perceptions of the top three reasons for burnout in the profession. Findings suggest social workers in this study are experiencing moderate levels of burnout since the COVID-19 pandemic and report primarily organizational (83%) contributors to burnout. They also identified individual (36%), systemic (29%), and interpersonal (27%) contributors to burnout. Implications are discussed related to policy and practice responses to prevent and address burnout among social workers.Item "People, places, and things:" Network factors matter in the experiences of mental health court participants(2013) Canada, Kelli E.; Social Work; http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2747-8675This paper presents findings regarding the relationship between the social networks of MHC participants and one important outcome, treatment adherence. Poor treatment adherence is associated with poor recovery among people with serious mental illnesses (Velligan et al., 2009); thus, understanding the factors that are associated with treatment adherence within the MHC context is an important contribution to the literature and one that is currently lacking. Structured and semi-structured interviews are drawn upon to do the following: (1) Describe the social networks of MHC participants; (2) Quantitatively estimate the associations between network factors and treatment adherence; and (3) Explore what factors impact mental health recovery and contribute to success within MHC programs from the perspective of MHC participants and key informants.Item Partnering with the health professions to promote prevention of an alcohol-exposed pregnancy : Lessons learned from an Academic–organizational collaborative(MDPI AG, 2019) Lepper, L. T.; King, D.; Doll, J.; Gonzalez, S.; Mitchell, A.; Hartje, J.; Social WorkBackground: Evidence-based strategies exist to train healthcare professionals to ask their patients and clients about alcohol use, and are successful. Implementation of these strategies utilizing a system-level approach has not been conducted nationwide. This case study reports on the success of academic partnerships with national health professional organizations to increase adoption of evidence-based strategies to prevent alcohol-exposed pregnancies. Methods: Authors reviewed and summarized multi-level strategies created as part of the developmental phase of this project in order to report successes and challenges. We applied the three principles of reflection, sense-making, and reciprocal learning, as identified in the practice change literature, to synthesize our experience. Results: There were five primary lessons learned as a result of this work: Development of technology-based training websites requires significant time to design, implement, and test; project ‘mission-drift' is inevitable, but not necessarily unwelcome; time and effort is required to create and sustain functioning workgroups when there are different organizational cultures; and changing real-world practice is hard to do, yet changing the conversation on screening and brief intervention is possible. Conclusions: Use of multi-level strategies within an academic–professional organization model was successful in promoting awareness and education of healthcare professionals in the prevention of alcohol-exposed pregnancies.Item Ethics Forum: Rural Social Work Practice(White Hat Publications, 2006) Galambos, Colleen; Wilson Watt, J.; Anderson, Kimberly; Danis, Fran; Social WorkManagement of dual relationships and confidentiality in social work practice is an essential ethical task for all professionals. Practitioners face special challenges presented by the choice of practice environment and the differential client and community expectations that may be inherent in rural practice. This article addresses the challenge through an analysis of dual relationships, boundary management, and confidentiality in rural practice environments across micro and macro practice activities and settings. The nature of the ethical challenge of dual relationships and the preservation of confidentiality and privacy are explored and an analysis of special practice issues in the rural environment is provided. Tools and suggestions for rural practitioners are presented to use in the ethical management of boundaries with clients, colleagues, and organizations.